A complete chronological listing of shorter pieces written since 1995.
Any of these articles that are not the copyright of a specified publication may be freely copied and distributed.
Articles are listed in inverse chronological order – i.e. more recent articles first.
- The Church needs structural reform© Reality Mar 2011
In 2010 a consultation on the papal pastoral letter to Ireland had highlighted a growing desire for structural change in the Irish church – but when, if ever, would Irish bishops respond? - Rethinking Catholic Formation© Reality Feb 2011
Our school-centred system of faith formation, and the timing of our Catholic sacraments of initiation, date from a past era. Schools cannot protect childhood 'faith' from the challenge of secularist scepticism or ensure the continuity of Catholic tradition in Ireland. Our faith formation strategy needs radical rethinking at a time of radical challenge. - Is unaccountable leadership worthy of the public’s respect?© Irish News Jan 13th 2011
As a papal visitation of the Irish Catholic church got under way, it was time to ask if church leaders had really understood the import of what had happened on their watch. It seemed likely that they were set to ignore the most important fact revealed by the Ryan and Murphy reports into abuse in Irish church-run institutions: that the Irish Church - and the global Catholic church also - was in need of secular regulation because it had no accountability structures of its own. - The Disgracing of Catholic MonarchismThe Dublin/Murphy Report: A Watershed for Irish Catholicism? eds. John Littleton and Eamon Maher, 2010
This contribution (to a book focused upon the implications of the Murphy report of 2009), argues that the current crisis of the church is essentially a crisis of government, centred on the failure of the monarchical and therefore unaccountable power of bishops to protect children. - Of Good and Evil: V – Abba© Reality Jul 2010
How even our mistaken search for the approval of others can lead in the end to a realisation that there was no need to visit such punishment upon ourselves. Jesus's understanding of his father's compassion led to his parable of the Prodigal Son. This assures us that we can never lose the right to 'come home'. - Of Good and Evil: IV – Contagious Desire© Reality Jun 2010
It is our chronic uncertainty about our own value that leads us to think that others are 'better' than us, and to suppose that if we possess what they possess we will 'better' too. This is why desire is so contagious, and why endless contagious desire for something else ('covetousness') is the root of globally unsustainable lifestyles. - Of Good and Evil: III – Vanity and Humility© Reality May 2010
It is our inability to believe that our value is a 'given' that leads us to seek the admiration of others, and it is this that lies at the root some of the greatest violence in human history. This is why Jesus took an entirely different path - to lead us to peace through mutual service. To believe that our value depends upon what others think of us is to make a most crucial mistake. - Authoritarianism and Moral Cowardice© Doctrine and Life May-June 2010
On reading the Ryan and Murphy reports on abuse by church servants, where must we then look for an explanation of the moral cowardice of Catholic officials and police who failed to challenge clerical child abuse? This article argues that a major cause was Catholic clerical authoritarianism, which left too many Catholics confusing loyalty to Christ with deference-to-clergy. - Of Good and Evil: II – The Human Problem© Reality Apr 2010
In sport, in politics, in business - the pattern shown by media scandal is inescapable: we humans tend to be dissatisfied and to choose solutions that are self-harmful. The biblical Eve too was unsure of her own value: why else would she have wanted to be 'as Gods'? This chronic uncertainty is humankind's 'original problem'. - Of Good and Evil: I – Dealing with the Darkness© Reality Mar 2010
How and why, as a teacher of history and current affairs, I came to a conclusion about the central human problem in 1994 – our chronic dissatisfaction with ourselves as we are, and our consequent tendency to 'climb' - to find a way of proving that we deserve the good opinion of others. - Goodbye and Good Riddance to Irish Catholic Serfdom© Doctrine and Life Oct 2009
Why the disillusionment that followed the CICA (Ryan) report into widespread abuse in church-managed institutions in Ireland in the 20th century should lead to a liberation from moral serfdom - the medieval habit of lay deference to those who wielded clerical authority but ignored the sufferings of thousands of children in those residential institutions. - Why the Show mustn’t go on© Doctrine and Life Sep 2008
How the story of Michael Cleary revealed the great danger of the illusion that underlies Catholic clericalism – the belief that ordination confers virtue and holiness on those who receive it. It revealed also a huge gap in Catholic moral education, leaving us all unwarned about the greatest danger presented by electronic media. - Secularism and Hesitant Preaching© The Furrow Jul/Aug 2008
Why the bland hesitancy that has overtaken the Sunday homily in Ireland in recent years needs to be discarded. All of the most intractable problems that currently threaten us – from abuse to addiction to climate crisis – are related to the central problem addressed by the Gospel: our inability to love ourselves and one another. To wait for effective government-led policies to deal with these problems is a profound mistake. - The Role of the Priest: Sacrifice or Self-sacrifice?© Doctrine and Life Sep 2007
Why do we associate ‘priesthood’ with ritual rather than with actual service and self-sacrifice – the definitive priestly role of Jesus? The reasons are historical rather than theological. To restore the centrality of actual service in the church will be to resolve our confusion over ‘involving the laity in the church’ also. - Catholic Schools: why they are not maintaining the faith© The Irish News 21st June 2007
With the future of Northern Ireland’s Catholic schools then in question, I offered an explanation of why they were failing to do what they are supposed to do: form committed Catholic adults. - The Story of the West: VI – Mastering Contagious Desire© Reality Mar 2007
Why did a second-generation Irish nationalist leader set out to mimic in the late 1900s the lifestyle of nineteenth-century Irish ascendancy landlords, with disastrous and tragic consequences for his own reputation and his family? Why is the baseball cap worn around the world – even in cold weather? Why are people so fascinated by celebrity? Why, in summary, is desire so contagious - and why do we therefore need to re-learn the meaning of the critical verb 'to covet'? - The Story of the West : V – Earth Crisis© Reality Feb 2007
The rise of the West to global dominance has led to an intense global environmental crisis. An analysis of this crisis supports the argument that Christianity will again be crucial to the survival of the human community on planet Earth. - The Story of the West: IV – The Rise of Capitalism© Reality Jan 2007
Did the West’s economic miracle of the past few centuries begin, as was once thought, with the ‘Protestant work ethic’, or did it have a much earlier origin – in the Catholic theology of the Middle Ages? - The Story of the West: III – The Origins of Freedom© Reality Dec 2006
Is secularism really the original source of the freedoms of western civilisation? This article argues that those origins lie neither in modern secularism nor in ancient Greece, but in the New Testament and the Catholic theologians of the Middle Ages. The belief that we humans have binding obligations to one another arose from Christian theology, and it was from this principle that John Locke derived the idea of the rights of man. - Clericalism the enemy of Catholicism© The Irish News 9th Nov 2006
Here I outlined the view of 'Voice of the Faithful - Ireland' that the origins of Catholic scandals lie not in the essence of Catholicism but in Catholic clericalism, the mistaken identification of 'the Church' with clergy.
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